Your website needs to look good, download fast, and be mobile-friendly. The colors, the graphics, and the general “feel” of a website are all extremely important. But no matter how good your site looks, no website is complete without superlative copy. From headlines and captions to the small print, copy is what converts visitors into clients and customers. A professional internet marketing agency can produce the copy you need, but if you’re going it alone, here are some recommendations for writing copy that converts:
Have a goal: Stick to your purpose. Whether you are selling widgets, mansions, or legal services, frame every sentence that you write in a way that brings your reader one step closer to making a purchase. Even if a new visitor doesn’t make a buy on his or her first visit, the website should encourage and prompt that visitor to return
Be concise and be clear: Teachers have to teach in a way that every student can understand. Preachers preach so that even the dullest person in the congregation gets the message. Use simple words, simple sentence structures, and precise terminology. Avoid “jargony” terms and industry-specific phrases.
Be yourself: Your copy’s voice and tone should be your own. While all marketing copy should be somewhat casual, obviously a legal website will be a bit more formal and slang-free than a comic book store’s website. Maintain your voice and tone in all of your marketing. If your Facebook page is loose and casual, your website shouldn’t be stiff and formal – or vice-versa. Remember that you’re speaking to a specific individual person, so use personal pronouns. Instead of “any buyer would want this widget,” write “you’ll want this widget.”
Editing is imperative: Read it. Reread it. Choose words that are more precise. Combine sentences. And proofread, proofread, proofread. It might not matter if you are selling comic books, but if you’re selling professional services, good grammar, proper punctuation, and precise language are imperative.
Online marketing – especially when it’s effective – is time-consuming, and it’s difficult to do it right. You’re already running a full-time business, so don’t hesitate to seek some help from a professional internet marketing agency, and don’t wait. Someone may be reading your website right now.
